For learning anatomy do I learn in 2D or 3D?

proto93

I am trying to learn character design for 3D. I try to make at least a sculpt a day in Zbrush. I know it is important to learn anatomy but I am not sure if it is better to try to make the anatomy in zbrush or to do it on traditional paper and pencil. Could I get some advice please?

carvuliero

For me I found out doing both in parallel to each other give the best result -> first drawing and analyzing then sculpting, drawing something take  few minutes so its not that big investment

Alex_J

Both digital and traditional require you to pay close attention to subtleties, and spend lots of time making observations, but traditional will require you to develop hand-eye skill, whereas even if you can't make a straight line you can get around that any number of ways with digital. 

I can't draw worth a crap. Not because I fail to notice what I'm looking at, but because I have shaky hands and not being able to ctrl-z little mistakes drives me crazy. It helps to have some raw drawing skill in zbrush, but even if you don't, there's so many tools to accommodate such a handicap. 

Lastly, if you want to work in 3d, the more time you spend in that medium the more exposure you get, the more mistakes you make to learn from, the more tools  and workflows you discover...on the other hand, like carv said, some drawing here and there is not a big investment, and it might totally make sense to make good use of commute time, or down time when your eyes are tired of computer screens but you still want to practice a bit.

Brian "Panda" Choi

I prefer 2D for practice.  One can pump out more volumes of work than in 3D.

proto93

These are a lot of mixed opinions. I am still unsure what to do. I drew a skull at work and then tried sculpting it last night before bed, My lack of zbrush knowledge hurt me a bit though. I wasnt sure how to make holes and sharp angles

Brian "Panda" Choi

trimDynamic brush is good at making planes.

Also, have you taken figure drawing before?

proto93

Brian "Panda" Choi said:

trimDynamic brush is good at making planes.

Also, have you taken figure drawing before?

Other than some simple sketches not really. Growing up everyone including my art teachers made fun of me for my art so I grew to avoid drawing at all costs. Now I am starting to get into it again as an adult but I am not very good.

Brian "Panda" Choi

Not too late to get into figure drawing now.  It'll be incredibly helpful with mastering the human form.

Biomag

Personal opinion on how to practice - it depends on how you learn best. I am overall inclined towards 3d, my brain works that way. Doing 2d drawings helps - as everything else help even if you practice anatomy by placing thousand of noodles on the floor to get the shapes - but I need to see the thing from all sides, work with volumes. To me its the typical oversimplification to say - do it this way. People learn differently, so they should adjust their methods to what yields the best resolut for themselves and anyone claiming 'there is only one right path' is wrong.

I personally also don't agree with the notion of just keep producing. Might be that someone needs to be constantly producing art and just the constant practice will form his skillset, but some people need to take it slow and learn a lot more from reflecting on what they did than by simply re-doing the same thing over and over again to repeat 99 mistake but to improve on 1 thing. And in the end it might be a mixture - for me I take it slow until i comprehand something, then I need to repeat it several times until I reach a point where I can overthink what I am doing to understand what I need to do differently.

So my advice is find out what you like to do and what you feel comfortable with when it comes to learning. It will always involve doing art and doing a lot of it to improve, but it isn't about the number of drawings or sculpts you will do. Sometimes a lot of the work has to happen in your head or re-working the same drawing/sculpt until you comprehand what went well and what didn't.

sacboi

Too begin with, learning/mastering the basic tenets of human anatomy can be achieved working in either medium so it's really dependant upon which discipline one is most comfortable using. So I'll suggest for the time being as Biomag commented, analise for yourself what clicks and go from there plus absolutly, comprehension of a thing typically comes with a ton of practice.

carvuliero

I have small post with some drawing exercises that will help you learn the basics

https://polycount.com/discussion/200681/learn-to-see-basic-drawing-and-warm-up-exercises#latest

sacboi

Thanks for sharing, will be very handy regardless of level.

Cheers.

proto93

Thank you everyone for the information. I now have a lot more to ponder and will try to do both on a daily basis. I picked up some anatomy books as well